Newt Gingrich’s political skills combine relentless drive and prickly rhetoric that alienates critics but lights a fire for those who view life through his political prism, adversaries and allies agree.

Over his long political career, the former U.S. House speaker has been lionized as the champion of a Republican revival, then disciplined by his peers and regarded as a political has-been.

If the chips are down, as they were earlier this year when his campaign was widely viewed as dead, he’s often at his best, tirelessly relaunching himself, admirers say.

“The bottom line is I know Newt Gingrich very, very well,” said Bob Livingston, a former Republican U.S. representative from Louisiana, who was initially chosen as Gingrich’s leadership successor after a rocky end to his speakership in 1998. “Has he got baggage? Sure, he’s got baggage. But he’s got the best understanding of government, the very best understanding of history and the very best leadership qualities that can motivate people to accomplish great things.”

Gingrich ran twice for Congress and lost, in 1974 and 1976. Then in 1978, the Democratic incumbent announced he wouldn’t run again, and Gingrich was elected, at age 35.

Thus began his two-decade quest to orchestrate a Republican takeover of the House, a path paved by both expansive policy vision and sharp partisanship.

Former U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright, a Democrat from Texas, recalls that one of Gingrich’s first moves was to call for expulsion of former Rep. Charles Diggs, a Democrat from Michigan. Diggs was re-elected in 1978 while awaiting sentencing on embezzlement charges.

Wright, who was then House majority leader, said Gingrich unleashed slicing rhetoric to demand disciplinary action.

“Gingrich had never met him, didn’t know him,” Wright told The Des Moines Register earlier this month. “As the majority leader, I took the position that it was the business of Congress to investigate these things before we make judgments, and that the presumption should be that the people of the district had chosen the person that they wished.”

The House censured Diggs. He resigned and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Almost a decade later, Gingrich went after Wright, who had helped bring ethics charges against Gingrich. Wright eventually resigned, and Gingrich catapulted into the GOP leadership ranks.

Wright continues to see Gingrich as a slashing, take-no-prisoners partisan.

“He uses terms like socialist” to describe adversaries, Wright said. “He has a tendency to exaggerate, and it’s contrary to my concept of legislative policy.”

In 1994, Gingrich helped write the Contract with America, outlining GOP goals such as tax cuts and welfare reform. The contract is credited with helping propel the GOP to majority control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

While Gingrich was speaker, Congress approved welfare and Medicare reforms and the largest capital gains tax cut in U.S. history.

But his party also forced temporary federal government shutdowns as it battled President Bill Clinton over spending, provoking public pushback.

In 1997, the House reprimanded him for ethics violations, finding that he had broken House rules by failing to ensure that financing for a college course and book did not violate tax law and by giving the House ethics committee false information. He paid a $300,000 fine. It was the first time a House speaker was disciplined for ethical wrongdoing.

However, the Internal Revenue Service subsequently ruled there were no tax law violations.

Gingrich also took some of the heat for the GOP attempt to remove Clinton from office for lying under oath about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

By 1998, Gingrich’s political capital had dissipated. He resigned from Congress a few days after the 1998 elections, when his party lost five seats in the House. Fellow Republicans, including Livingston, had gunned to oust him from leadership. Livingston and Gingrich have remained friends.

“Looking at the big picture and the major achievements, Newt Gingrich’s term as speaker was revolutionary, and it was productive,” Livingston said.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The author or co-author of dozens of books, Newt Gingrich is viewed by close associates as a charismatic and savvy yet sometimes sloppy communicator.

He doesn’t use a teleprompter and rarely uses notes. That makes his speeches more personable and engaging, but leaves more room for him to stray off message.

One such gaffe nearly sank his presidential campaign just as it launched. In a May 15 “Meet the Press” interview, he called the House Republicans’ plans to reform Medicare “too big a jump.” He also criticized “right-wing social engineering” and “imposing radical change.” Fellow Republicans decried his statements as discrediting the House Republican-backed budget plan and giving Democrats an attack sound bite.

Gingrich apologized two days later to U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, architect of the plan. But controversy over Gingrich’s remarks made national headlines, and his polling remained in the single digits for months.

But his communication skills also resurrected his campaign. In a string of debates, Gingrich put down the media for “gotcha” questions and positioned himself as the experienced voice of reason in the race. He praised his rivals and spoke knowledgeably on a range of issues.

His debate performances have attracted legions of admirers.

“I’ve always said I would vote for him if I thought he had a legitimate chance,” said Chris Dowd, a Clive resident who heard Gingrich speak in Des Moines earlier this month. “There’s a very good chance I’ll support him in the caucuses now.”

POLICY VISION

Even critics describe Newt Gingrich as an “idea machine.”

Friend and former congressional colleague Bob Livingston of Louisiana recently repeated a joke about Gingrich that is both compliment and dig: “Newt Gingrich has 50 ideas before breakfast, and at least three or four of them were good.”

“Nothing intrigues him like a challenge others deem too big to solve,” said Christina Martin, a former Gingrich spokeswoman.

Some of his ideas are literally far out, like mining minerals from the moon. He has long pursued interests in space, technology and science. He gave a speech earlier this month at the University of Iowa on brain science, and told the Register he wants to speak at Iowa State University on space, science and technology.

Much of Gingrich’s policy vision falls within the conservative wheelhouse of limited government, lower taxes and free markets. As he often boasts, he has a lifetime score of 90 percent from the American Conservative Union.

The 1994 Contract With America, which he helped write, called for smaller government, lower taxes and greater public accountability.

Gingrich in September unveiled his “21st Century Contract With America,” which calls for an optional 15 percent flat tax; allowing seniors to remain with Medicare or choose their own health insurance, partially paid by the government; and permitting younger Americans to put some of their Social Security contributions into personal savings accounts.

DECISION-MAKING STYLE

Newt Gingrich speaks off the cuff, but his decision-making style is more methodical, close associates said.

He usually does large amounts of research before generating policy ideas, they said.

“Listen, learn, help, lead,” was a Gingrich leadership mantra in the speaker’s office, said Christina Martin, a former Gingrich spokeswoman.

Ed Kutler, Gingrich’s former senior policy adviser, worked with the former speaker in the mid-1990s as Congress and President Bill Clinton wrestled to restructure health care. Gingrich did his own research and called in academics and government and industry experts to go over the issues, Kutler recalled.

Martin remembers when Gingrich decided to step down as speaker. Republicans had done poorly in the 1998 elections, and other Republicans were challenging Gingrich for the post.

She views the decision as Gingrich seeking to focus on big-picture vision rather than legislative minutiae.

“I think after a while — while he did have the votes and had everything locked in to be speaker again — I think he just decided that this wasn’t worth always being captive to a small group that would keep you mired in the details instead of able to move and do more sweeping changes,” Martin said.

MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Newt Gingrich’s drive sometimes makes him prone to take on too much, but he generally delegates effectively, said Jack Howard, Gingrich’s former office policy director.

Christina Martin, a former spokeswoman, remembers 10 p.m. staff meetings and being exhausted after foreign trips because of Gingrich’s tireless agenda.

Howard pointed to welfare reform as an example of when Gingrich brought together factions of his own party and Democrats by emphasizing his belief that people were trapped by welfare rather than being lazy.

Gingrich’s personal financial management came under scrutiny earlier this year when financial disclosure reports showed the Gingriches once maintained a revolving loan account at Tiffany of $250,000 to $500,000.

This spring, campaign dollars paid for a private plane to jet him and his wife from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids. Yet the campaign did not purchase a key resource: a list of 2008 Iowa GOP caucusgoers.

Within a span of about 1½ weeks ending June 9, all seven of Gingrich’s Iowa staff resigned, as did several top national aides. Some spoke publicly about what they described as a lackadaisical approach to fundraising and campaigning.

Gingrich also has been criticized over bills owed by American Solutions for Winning the Future, a tax-exempt political organization he launched in 2006.

Gingrich cut ties with the group earlier this year to focus on his presidential run. In July, the group went out of business.

Court documents in November showed the group owed $20,000 to its landlord in Washington, D.C.

“Being a fiscal conservative and having the message of personal responsibility, you would think that even if you’re not legally liable … you would want to have an amicable outcome,” Michael Cogan, an attorney for the landlord, told Bloomberg News last month.

Gingrich, in an interview with the Register Nov. 30, absolved himself of responsibility.

“I wasn’t there,” Gingrich said. “When I was there, it was paying its bills.”

About Gingrich

What others say about Gingrich

FORMER ADVISER

Sometimes he goes with his gut, but I’ve found him to be analytical and much more deliberative than I think you will often hear and see from people who have not been part of the inside process.”Ed Kutler, Gingrich’s former senior policy adviser

FORMER STAFFER

“It’s one of the characteristics that I’ve noticed and most admire about him: He’s at his best when it looks like the wheels have fallen off.”Jack Howard, a former policy office director for Gingrich